Photo Credit: KAABOO
The KAABOO festival brand has been acquired by Virgin Fest. Jason Felts will lead the festival next year.
Virgin Fest is the music festival arm of Richard Branson’s multi-national conglomerate, Virgin Group Ltd. Virgin Fest founder and CEO Jason Felts will oversee the launch of the festival in Los Angeles next year. He’ll also oversee KAABOO, which will move to Petco Park in San Diego.
KAABOO launched five years ago at the Del Mar fairgrounds in California. Bryan Gordon and Seth Wolkov of Madison Companies helped turn the festival into one with international acclaim.
The sale is a 100% asset sale and will continue to target KAABOO’s millennial demographic. The planned Virgin Fest will target the early 20s demographic. With KAABOO under new ownership, fans can expect to see plenty of new entertainment. The press release made a point to emphasize that the branding won’t be changing, either.
“The KAABOO brand and signature, multi-sensory experience around live Music, Comedy, Art, and Culinary will remain and will not be rebranded. Under new ownership, fans can expect to continue to enjoy a hospitality-driven experience that engages all five senses.”
The acquisition was brokered and negotiated on behalf of Virgin Fest by a team at Latham & Watkins led by Ken Deutsch.
Since its flagship property in Del Mar, KAABOO has expanded to the Cayman Islands. In a partnership with the Dallas Cowboys, the festival headed to Dallas for KAABOO Texas. It’s likely Virgin has more international aspirations for the festival as part of its music festival arm.
That’s basically the opposite of the trajectory of Fyre Festival — which is why KAABOO gets far less attention.
This year’s concert was headlined by the Dave Matthews Band and Mumford and Sons. For the third year in a row, tickets sold out well in advance. Fans interested in attending KAABOO San Diego at Petco Park can now buy passes for the event.